


The Second Best Coffee In Rosewood

by rvst



Series: Detective Lucas [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Gen, Trope Bingo Round 3, Trope: Poor Communication Skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:03:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2459186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rvst/pseuds/rvst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Is the coffee at your girlfriend's shop-” Ruby started and cut herself off with another sip, her face scrunching up, “drinkable?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Best Coffee In Rosewood

Ruby's bright red car was drawing stares as the morning rush in Rosewood started to flow past its parking space. While the woman herself seemed unaware of this, Paige's insides were twisting with second hand embarrassment. She sat across from her in one of the many coffee shops not currently employing one of her ex-girlfriends, and sipped at her cold coffee as they settled into a terse but not uncomfortable silence.

“Is the coffee at your girlfriend's shop-” Ruby started and cut herself off with another sip, her face scrunching up, “drinkable?” 

Paige sipped at her sugar-filled iced coffee, pushing down the regret associated with Emily, and Allison. “Of course it is, this is the second best coffee in town.”

“That monstrosity makes so much more sense now,” Ruby said as she glared at Paige's coffee with envy and regret. Paige and her smug little face, while adorable, was going to get bitten off if she kept going this way. “What do the kids do for fun around here?”

Paige deliberated for several long minutes about which story of Rosewood to tell. The one where teenage girls went missing and turned up dead months if not years later? The four-person hell that Emily and her friends seemed to be constantly living in? Or the one guys like Noel Khan liked to think Rosewood embodied?

She was saved from what was sure to be an awkward answer by the irritatingly high-pitched bell above the door of the second best coffee shop in Rosewood. Sadly, the awkward was apparently only getting started as Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin walked in. Paige covered her face with both hands. “Great.”

Ruby could see the money radiating off the brunette girl, but the blonde puzzled her. She was dressed fashionably, with all the expensive trimmings, yet she smelled odd for a rich girl. They both had teenage boy stench all over them so she safely assumed neither of these girls was also one of her new friend's exes. Ruby snorted, “not friends of yours?”

“They are Emily's friends. She lived with Hanna, the blonde one, for a little while,” Paige explained, peeking from behind her fingers to see Spencer staring at her and Ruby in horror while Hanna blatantly checked the woman out. “The other one is Spencer, she broke my cheekbone playing field hockey once.”

The more Ruby learned about this random girl who thought the pre-dawn hours was the perfect time to go jogging, the more she wanted to hug the poor thing. The Spencer one glaring at her with an alternating torrent of horror and condemnation, what exactly was she thinking? Ruby could have been Paige's cousin, a private tutor, travelling hair highlights salesperson!

Ruby shook herself from her internal defence while the Hanna one confidently crossed the shop with a smile far too bright for the early hour. Even her clearly type A friend behind her was glaring and she looked like she had an IV line in her arm constantly to pump caffine directly into her veins.

“Hello, new friend of Paige's!” Hanna greeted brightly. Ruby winced, all too aware of the long night worth of driving she put herself through to reach civilization before dawn broke. “Did you just move here? Also is the car yours?”

Spencer scoffed, “she didn't just move here, Hanna, there's a big ass bag in the back seat of her car that's so full clothes are escaping.”

She spoke with a scorn barely restrained, which Hanna glared at her for. Ruby had noticed the two of them discussing something outside the shop but hadn't bothered listening because that would be creepy. Now she wished she knew exactly why they were so interested in a woman talking to their friend's ex-girlfriend. Ruby felt the anger was slightly unwarranted, she hadn't even done anything yet!

“How do you know Paige?” They asked simultaneously, which was mostly just concerning to Ruby. After nearly thirty years spent working as a waitress with an occasional moonlight as as bartender, she prided herself on knowing all the latest gossip. Arriving in a whole new town set her teeth on edge, swirling secrets in the air and the guarded expressions gracing the girls' faces weren't helping.

“She's a friend,” Paige answered without looking at any of them and cutting off any answer Ruby may have come up with.

“Friend?” Spencer queried further. Ruby tilted her head in confusion, the disbelief threw her again. Spencer checked her out long and hard. Long enough that Ruby wondered if these two were older than Paige. “She looks like an age-appropriate friend.”

Oh.

Oh!

Recognition must have shown on Ruby's face. Paige went bright red while Hanna slapped at Spencer's shoulder. Spencer responded by maturely tugging at an errant lock of Hanna's hair.

Paige sighed, “I'm going to regret this later but: what ever do you mean by that, Hastings?”

“McCullers-”

“Why with the last names?” Hanna interjected before Spencer could get going.

“She fractured my hand on the field last year, Hanna!” Spencer defended herself well and they all stopped glaring at each other when Ruby burst out laughing.

It took enough time for Ruby to compose herself that Hanna evidently got bored and wandered off to order for her and Spencer. Who was still glaring, possibly even harder now that Ruby had proven herself insane.

“Does she think what I think she thinks?” Ruby asked Paige, trying not to laugh again, sensitive subject and all that noise. “Seriously?”

Paige thought out her answer carefully because honestly, Aria Montgomery never did anything too bad to her and it felt wrong to throw her under a bus. “It's a proportionally widespread problem in Rosewood.”

“How diplomatic,” Spencer drawled. Only word Ruby could use, kid was going to kill it later in life with that voice.

“I met her like three hours ago, how could she have possibly taken advantage-”

“My name is Ruby Lucas,” she started, standing up to look this child accusing her of sick things in the eye, “and I'm a member of the Storybrooke Police Department.”

Paige and Spencer put on matching shocked looks, which further amused Ruby, helping to pull her out of the momentary panic setting in. Emma would pout at Regina and she'd have paperwork within the week.

“I will be starting at the Rosewood Police Department as a detective within the month,” Ruby paused for dramatic effect, Hanna came back, Spencer backed down a little, “is there anyone in your life being taken advantage of that would lead you to automatically suspect me without any evidence?”

Spencer stammered, blinking more than strictly necessary. Hanna copied Ruby's confused head tilt. She turned to Spencer. “Does she mean like Fitz?”

“Yes, she means like Fitz,” Paige answered, grinning into her sugar drink of diabetes.

“What's a 'Fitz', and why haven't you reported this before now?”

All three teenagers were on the annoying side of incredulous at that.

I might have to actually stay here for a while, Ruby thought, wandering towards the counter when they failed to answer.

The iced coffee of death had to be better than the crap she'd been served.

Welcome to Rosewood.


End file.
